Tombstone epitaph., 1887-10-08
TWO MEALSRER DAY.
TO INTERRUPT WORK AT MIDDAY
 IS A GREAT MISTAKE.

4 Pernicious Custom of the Anglo-Saxon
 Race-Effeots of Overworking the Stom-
 ach - Benefits of Occasional Fasting.
 The Chinese Habit.
 Now, say that breakfast time is 2 o'clock. It takes @ full hour afterward before it is safe to interfere the nervous energy essential to digestion. By 10o'clock healthy person ought to be in good con dition for work. At about il o'clock the air out of doors reaches the highest point of purity, or in other words, the oxygen in the atmosphere is approaching the max 1mum. It continues in this state until 1 o'clock p. m. The electricity following the sun is then at its height.
 So we have at midday the inner and outer conditions for the greatest brain and bodily power. To interrupt work at such a time is mistake which the Anglo Saxon race does not realize, because it has inherited the custom of stopping to take provisions between 12 and o'clock in the day.
 All kinds of mental and physical work proceed by better sustained attention. The difference between an Isaac Newton and an ordinary mortal is shown in the ease with which the occupation of the day is thrown aside in Or1er to do what is de- ecribed as 'fortifying the inner man." Newton could concentrate his mind upon @ subject so cs to be oblivious of all else, including eating and sleeping, for twenty four hours. l think there is an appropri- ateness in comparing the too frequently loaded human stomach to an engine which is all fired and working splendidly when the fire is buried under new coals and the steam cooled down by deluge of water am convinced that there ought to be an interval of at least seven hours between the two meals of the day. If there must be brief rest from labor at noon it will be found healthier to do anything else than eat and drink.
 Nature is quicker to forgive the mis- take of sleeping, bathing or walking too much than the fault of expressing the whole man with an unnecessary load of food. The theory that the stomach de- mands something to sustain it after few hours from the last time it took food is as wild as that hopse should be put to work in very little while after it has had hard service.
 BENEFITS OF FASTING.
 The stomach is not dependent upon work for it's health, except as, of course, it and the whole body must have the blood made from it's digested food; but this blood does not need replenishing so often as is supposed, considering that it remains in the system and continues an endless circuit.
 Disease is occasioned by the over fatigue of the digestive system, just as overwork kills the horse Many persons of mature judgment obtain relief from bodily troubles by lasts of three days. I have often tried this experiment, and have always found that the stomach gains in tone. have even done the seven day fast, studying and working the whole time, and believe it did me good.
 Fasting for long periods has to be done fntelligently or it may do more harm than good. can fully appreciate the danger of advising any particular course of action outside the line beyond which everyday people should go; but there is good ground for advising them to become accustomed to two meals.
 When Christ sat at the well in Samaria waiting for his cold victuals it was 6 o'clock p. m., Roman reckoning He is never mentioned as having eaten at noon. The eating habits of his disciples were the same. The only exception to the gen. eral record was St. Peter, who is said to have eaten a noon meal on the roof at Joppa; but, judging from what appears elsewhere concerning him, l believe he was then only breaking his fast for the day.
 The Chinese habit of eating only twice day is confined to those who do not work in the fields. The latter mentioned class eat three times.
 To break off the habit of eating the noon meal, it only requires about four days persistent fasting. After that the craving for food will become more aud more moderate, and ultimately disappear. W. Crofut in Herald of Health.